A models walks the runway in a Zang Toi design during New York Fashion Week.

Photo By Frazer Harrison/Staff

A models walks the runway in a Zang Toi design during New York Fashion Week.

Malaysian-born New York-based designer Zang Toi is calling from Birmingham, Ala., saying that he's loving the South and raring to make his way to San Antonio Tuesday, eager to explore South Texas.

Toi — a sociable, humorous and affectionate man — is on a trunk show tour with his spring 2013 collection from the recent New York Fashion Week.

His Alamo City visit is his first, with personal appearances Tuesday and Wednesday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at Saks Fifth Avenue at North Star Mall.

To know Toi, 51, is to also know that he is passionate about his craft — and the women he dresses. He has built long-lasting friendships with many of them, from Los Angeles to Houston to Palm Beach, Fla., escorting his ladies to high-society events and rolling out the red carpet for them, making them feel extraordinary at his own runway presentations, parties and trunk shows.

He's looking forward to building the same with newfound clients here because, as he says, "My customers don't buy just my clothes, but also a piece of my personality."

Toi was born and reared in a small village, the youngest of seven children of a grocer. He always loved sketching and drawing but dreamed of being an architect or interior designer. At 18, he made his way to New York and two years later began studying fashion design at Parsons School of Design, home to "Project Runway" contestants.

In 1990, he received the young designer of the year award, and the fashion press declared him "the next big thing."

He says last year sales increased by 57 percent over the year before and he's hopeful - and confident - that his San Antonio stop will take him over 60 percent for the year.

Q: What have you heard about San Antonio's women and their style?

A: I've always heard about how the ladies there love to get dressed up. Honestly, we have been trying to get to San Antonio for many years. I can't wait to meet my new beautiful girls.

Q: What do you like most about meeting your clients?

A: It's an education and so important to meet clients. Every city is so different, culturally, too. I love the ladies and want to learn about the needs of the client, so when I design a collection I think about all my ladies across the country because they are loyal to me and have been shopping my label for 15 years.

Q: That's real commitment, isn't it?

A: Definitely, but I don't just sell two or three pieces. My ladies spend $100,000 to $200,000. This year I have one lady from Indianapolis who has spent $1.3 million. It's amazing to me.

Q: And they buy you.

A: I have been working hard and all I want to do is make beautiful clothes for my ladies. I have a personal relationship with my ladies.

Q: What do they like about you, personally?

A: I'm down to earth. I don't pretend to be who I am not. Most designers think of themselves as rock stars. Not me. I'm just me. When I go and do a trunk show my job is to make sure that the women there look beautiful. And I have to earn their trust.

A: It's not vulgar, it's sophisticated. I wanted to surprise my audience and do a dramatic, romantic collection of princess dresses and gowns in icy colors of lilac, yellow and pink.

Q: How is it different from anything you've done before?

A: Before, my collections have always been dramatic and sophisticated. This one is still that but I think it's prettier and more romantic. And I usually use one color for my collections. This collection has many colors. Everything is lined in silk, there's hand beading and such fine workmanship.

Q: What wise purchase should a woman make from the collection?

A: A cashmere shawl. We used cashmere from Loro Piana, the best of the best.

Q: Sounds pricey.

A: In black and white, they're $3,800 each. But we also have them icy pink and ivory chiffon. The beaded flower ones are $8,000.

Q: Fashionably speaking, do you find that women tend to be hard on themselves?

A: I can tell you this: if I don't think something of mine looks right on them, even if they want it, I tell them. Not only is it a waste of money but it is my name on the clothes and I don't want it to ruin my reputation.

Q: What celebrity is your ideal muse these days?

A: I would love to dress Cate Blanchett because she has such grace and is also this generation's great actress. She also has a great sense of style.

Q: What's the best advice you can offer women about personal style?

A: Know what looks great on you and don't follow fashion blindly; don't be a fashion victim.